Creating a Site Plan and Underground Piping Plan in Revit: Step-by-Step Guide

To establish our comprehensive site plan and underground piping layout, we'll need to streamline our workspace by closing unnecessary views. When working with multiple drawings simultaneously, utilize the dropdown menu to selectively disable any views that aren't immediately relevant to your current task—this practice maintains system performance and reduces visual clutter.

For this exercise, we can safely close the 3D and 3D Fire Sprinkler System views since our focus is on creating detailed piping documentation. Starting with our Level 1 Piping Plan as the foundation, we'll create a specialized underground view by right-clicking and selecting "Duplicate View." Immediately rename this new view "Site Plan – UG" (underground) to maintain clear project organization—a critical habit that prevents confusion as project complexity increases.

You may notice that essential underground infrastructure elements—including buried piping runs and the backflow preventer visible in our 3D view—aren't displaying in this new plan. This visibility issue stems from restrictive view range settings that limit what depths are displayed within your current viewing parameters.

Navigate to Properties and select "View Range," then click "Edit" to access the depth controls. The default view depth of six inches is insufficient for comprehensive underground utility visualization. Since our underground systems extend to approximately seven feet below grade, adjust this parameter to "minus seven" and confirm with "OK." This modification reveals previously hidden subsurface elements that are crucial for accurate site coordination.

Even with the corrected view depth, some piping segments and the backflow preventer may remain hidden due to crop region limitations. The crop region defines the boundaries of your visible area and often requires manual adjustment for comprehensive site views. Access this setting through Properties by locating "Crop Region Visible" and activating the checkbox.

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The visible perimeter outline represents your current view boundaries. Click and drag this boundary outward to encompass the complete underground system, including the city main connection and backflow preventer assembly. These elements are critical for permit submissions and contractor coordination. Once properly positioned, deactivate "Crop Region Visible" to clean up your display.

For a focused underground utility plan, we need to eliminate the visual distraction of interior Level 1 piping systems. Select these interior elements by clicking and dragging across the building's internal piping network—exercise care to avoid selecting underground components. Hold the Control key to add additional pipe segments to your selection set, ensuring comprehensive coverage of all interior systems.

Right-click your selection and choose "Hide in View, Elements" to remove these components from the current view. Repeat this process for all interior piping throughout the building footprint. This selective hiding technique creates a clear visual hierarchy, emphasizing the underground infrastructure while maintaining the building context necessary for proper site coordination.

The resulting view should clearly display your riser locations, complete underground piping network, backflow preventer positioning, and city main connection point. However, excessive interior building detail may still interfere with plan clarity, requiring additional refinement through visibility controls.

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Leverage the Visibility Graphics override feature to fine-tune your display—accessible through the View menu or the convenient "VV" keyboard shortcut that experienced Revit users rely on for efficient workflow management. This powerful tool provides granular control over every aspect of your view composition.

Within the Visibility Graphics dialog, navigate to "Revit Links" and modify the Display Settings from "Host View" to "Custom." This change unlocks advanced control options that allow project-specific customization. Proceed to "Model Categories" and similarly change from "Host View" to "Custom" for maximum flexibility.

To achieve optimal clarity, click "All" under Model Categories, then deselect a checked item to clear all selections—alternatively, click "None" for immediate deselection. From this clean slate, selectively enable only "Floors" to generate a building silhouette that provides essential spatial context without overwhelming detail. This approach balances comprehensive site information with visual clarity that contractors and inspectors can quickly interpret.

Apply your changes by clicking "OK" twice. Your refined view now presents a clean building outline with precisely positioned underground utility information—the foundation for professional construction documentation. This streamlined presentation becomes invaluable during the construction documentation phase, where we'll add comprehensive annotations, detailed notes, and coordination symbols that transform this base drawing into a complete construction-ready plan.

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